At least one wingnut Congrescritter will not attend the Pope’s address:
It is difficult to convey the excitement I first felt when it was revealed that His Holiness Pope Francis was invited to Washington D.C. to address the world from the floor of the House of Representatives. Many believed, like I did, that this was an opportunity for the Pope to be one of the world’s great religious advocates and address the current intolerance of religious freedom. An opportunity to urgently challenge governments to properly address the persecution and execution of Christians and religious minorities; to address the heinous and senseless murders committed by ISIS and other terrorist organizations. An opportunity to address the enslavement, belittlement, rape and desecration of Christian women and children; to address the condoned, subsidized, intentionally planned genocide of unborn children by Planned Parenthood and society; and finally, an opportunity for His Holiness to refocus our priorities on right from wrong.
Media reports indicate His Holiness instead intends to focus the brunt of his speech on climate change–a climate that has been changing since first created in Genesis. More troubling is the fact that this climate change talk has adopted all of the socialist talking points, wrapped false science and ideology into “climate justice” and is being presented to guilt people into leftist policies. If the Pope stuck to standard Christian theology, I would be the first in line. If the Pope spoke out with moral authority against violent Islam, I would be there cheering him on. If the Pope urged the Western nations to rescue persecuted Christians in the Middle East, I would back him wholeheartedly. But when the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one. Artist and columnist Maureen Mullarkey effectively communicated this fallacy stating, “When papal preferences, masked in a Christian idiom, align themselves with ideological agendas (e.g. radical environmentalism) [they] impinge on democratic freedoms and the sanctity of the individual.”
I love how this doesn’t even track internally-he lists the ideological agenda he wants the Pope to address, and then flames him for speaking out on another ideological agenda. Only in America is climate change an ideological agenda. Everywhere else it’s called “SCIENCE.”
Bonus- this jackass is from Arizona. I wonder if he attended Netanyahu’s address…
AxelFoley
I wouldn’t doubt it.
Belafon
I hope the pope starts his talk with “As God watched four billion years ago, when the earth finally formed together enough to be considered a planet…”
Belafon
“If the Pope stuck to standard Christian theology”
The Pope doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be talking about. Taking care of the poor and the earth? I’ll tell him what he should be talking about.
WereBear
So… “Holier than the Pope” is no longer merely a metaphorical expression.
schrodinger's cat
There are conservative Catholics who hate this Pope’s guts so I am not really surprised. To understand their medieval mindset check the The Thinking Housewife’s blog.
Amir Khalid
I guess he’s a Republican first and a Catholic second. Oh by the way, where do he and other people get the idea that Christians in America are being persecuted for their faith? I mean, just who does he think is bigger and more powerful than Christians in America, where a great majority of people are professing Christians?
Belafon
One more thing: “the sanctity of the individual”
I missed that part of Christianity as well.
boatboy_srq
Translation: the unGodly intolerance heathens exhibit when Xtians attempt to
enforce Xtian orthodoxySave™ their people.Note that he makes a distinction between “Christians” and “religious minorities”, although clearly he believes that Xtians are a minority. Also note the “persecution and execution” bit; because having to do awful things like putting your name on a piece of paper that says two guys are married is just like giving your life in some horrifically long and slow manner for Jeebus and His Troof.
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear: Good I found you. Can you give me a link to the pillow that you said helped with your sleeping problems.
NonyNony
As a liberal ex-Catholic the thing I like the bestest about the current Pope is how much of a hypocrite he makes my conservative family members who always accused me of cafeteria Catholicism back when I was still a believer.
It’s great to see them rant on Facebook about things and then shove the Pope’s own words back in their faces and accuse them of cafeteria Catholicism. Their reactions are always priceless.
Jay C
So Congressman Gosar is going to be “boycotting” Pope Francis’ address, not because the Pope is advancing an ideological agenda per se, but because he’s advancing the “wrong” one, in Gosar’s opinion?
What’s even sadder is the trite, cheapjack rhetoric the Congressman can’t seem to avoid trotting out to “articulate” his objections: simpleminded right-wing talking points, and schoolyard-level insults. And over climate-change science?
Sadder still, this clown probably gets elected and re-elected by huge margins….*
ETA: Yep. Bog-standard wingnut
boatboy_srq
@Belafon: They can’t actually call out the Pope as unChristian or heretical – they need the Catholic wingnuts to vote alongside them, and religious wars are so 16th Century – but you can see they’re just itching to denounce Francis (and by extension most of the RC community) for not being the kind of Xtian they think he should be.
Elizabelle
It’s Paul Gosar.
He brags about his excellent Jesuit education and critical thinking skills, but cannot seem to make the connection between climate change and the “sanctity of human life.”
If you are underwater or in flames, it becomes markedly more difficult to practice your religious liberty.
From Mr. Gosar’s essay:
Got that? Welcomes debate, but cannot show up to hear stuff he does not want to hear from the leader of his faith.
Hold him accountable, Arizona. Vote him out in 2016.
More from graduate degreed and Jesuit-educated Mr. Gosar:
It’s only a fool’s errand to fools.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: The victimhood is right wing fundie thing. Husband kitteh’s uncle, an upper caste Brahmin thinks that Hindus are persecuted in India. He is a big supporter of the BJP and Narendra Modi. He said this with a straight face, fortunately he was called on his BS by his cousin, right to his face.
burnspbesq
Fuck him, the horse he rode in on, the farrier who shod the horse, and the farmer who grew the oats that the horse eats.
Ass. His kind of “Catholic” is the last thing the Church needs.
SatanicPanic
I’m an ex-Catholic but I’d go see the Pope if I were invited. Even the fascist one that just stepped down. What a weird thing to be a baby about
trollhattan
Is Townhall the platform of choice for congressional op-eds? I missed the memo.
Elizabelle
Wait! He’s a DENTIST? The D.D.S.?
Hal
From the comments section:
See folks? Nothing to worry about.
Elizabelle
@SatanicPanic: I would not go see Ratzinger (and he will always be Ratzinger to me), but I wish I could take Representative Gosar’s seat to listen to Pope Francis.
Goblue72
@schrodinger’s cat: That blog is like a Sunday school version of Mein Kampf.
boatboy_srq
@Elizabelle: @Elizabelle:
But of course he’s a dentist.
TaMara (BHF)
I have been stupidly arguing with his followers on FB this morning. I could not help myself. Every time someone said Climate Change is a hoax, I asked them to site their sources and then provided them with actual sources from scientists and a list of religious leaders and organizations calling for action on climate change.
Facts are so hard for these people. I know I should just walk away, but sometimes I have to play troll with them.
Jay C
@Elizabelle:
Mr. Gosar must have missed the class where Irony was discussed:
You know who else has a Jesuit education????
boatboy_srq
grumble grumble too many links grumble… reposting…
@Elizabelle:
But of course he’s a dentist.
A Ghost To Most
@burnspbesq:
No true Catholic, burnsy?
Germy Shoemangler
The Pope is God’s infallible earthly representative, according to Catholics! But when the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one. With contempt!
I doubt this idiot boycotted Bibi… even though Israel has made major efforts to address climate change, even though they have mandatory health insurance, even though their fast food workers are unionized.
I don’t understand.
SatanicPanic
@Elizabelle: I would, just so I could say I saw a pope speak. I don’t really care about the contents of their speech though so maybe that’s why. Either way we’re talking about the head of a highly dubious organization. I’d go see David Miscavidge speak for the lulz if it were free.
boatboy_srq
@Jay C: Clearly somebody wasn’t paying attention in class – and I’ll bet it wasn’t the Pontiff…
boatboy_srq
@NonyNony: It really is amazing how many Catholics pine for the good old days of Urban II and Innocent III.
TaMara (BHF)
@Jay C:
That’s the best response I’ve seen yet on the subject.
boatboy_srq
@TaMara (BHF):
They don’t want facts; they want dogma – especially dogma that sanctions their greed, bigotry and hatred.
SatanicPanic
@Germy Shoemangler: I believe Pope’s are only considered infallible when issue certain statements. Anyone know?
It would be awesome if he released one of those on climate change.
Belafon
@A Ghost To Most: He didn’t deny that Gosar was not Catholic. He said that the Church didn’t need his version of Catholocism.
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: Just another aspect of the ‘Big Lie’.
Paul in KY
@NonyNony: I bet that’s fun!
A Ghost To Most
@Belafon:
Well, there’s a distinction without a difference.
Gex
Funny how Benedict’s words were to be accepted at face value but Francis’ are to be challenged at every turn. Either the Pope speaks for the big guy or he doesn’t. If right wing Catholics want admit that this is not how it works, then let’s take their tax advantages away because they admit this is not a religion to them, but rather a political movement.
Paul in KY
@Hal: Jeezus, that’s a funny comment! Onionesque, even.
Germy Shoemangler
@SatanicPanic: Didn’t he issue something official on climate change? Maybe I’m wrong.
Here’s what I don’t understand: All the lies and misperceptions about global warming (it’s a soculist hoax!) have been spread by those who profit from fossil fuels. The fossil fuel people have spent millions (maybe billions) to further their cause. Couldn’t they have spent that money expanding into renewable energy? Corner the market on wind, solar etc? Profit from new technology?
I mean, GE (one of the biggest polluters) has been manufacturing wind turbines. Why aren’t the rest of them adapting?
Paul in KY
@Elizabelle: He’ll always be Pope Palpatine to me.
benw
@SatanicPanic:
Pope’s what is infallible? But seriously, hippie pope, get on that encyclical shit.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Belafon:
Catholicism has been on-board with evolution since the late 1800s despite the efforts of some converts from Protestant sects to change that.
As a fallen-away cultural Catholic, I love Pope Frankie and hope he sticks around to torment the conservative cafeteria Catholics for a long time to come.
Gian
This must really be Gozer the Gozerian
Also known as gosar the destroyer
Gian
@Jay C:
Jerry Brown?
beltane
I can’t believe I am excited for the Pope’s visit, but I really am excited.
Belafon
@A Ghost To Most: Quit trying so hard, that’s a significant difference. Are you one of those, “Oh, I see burnsie’s name’s attached, I must counter” types?
A Ghost To Most
@A Ghost To Most:
Though, to be fair, Frankie is the best pope in several decades, or at least the least fascist.
SatanicPanic
@Germy Shoemangler: I don’t know. As an ex-Catholic, there’s only so much of this I can fit in my brain anymore.
I think the fossil fuel companies have a good thing going and there’s a lot of risk to trying to basically create a new market even if they have a huge advantage in terms of capital over everyone else.
ETA- a good thing going FOR THEM obviously. Not so much for everyone else
Cervantes
Wonder no more: “Rep. Gosar Applauds Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Address to Congress,” wherein:
Germy Shoemangler
@Elizabelle: Interesting NewYorker article on Pope Francis. Some conservative people in the vatican are actively rooting for him to fail. Amazing.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/holy-orders-letter-from-the-vatican-alexander-stille
FlipYrWhig
Um, why? Are non-Catholics accustomed to listening to what the Pope has to say about the bad things they’re doing?
A Ghost To Most
What is the difference? Burns is saying that “real” Catholics don’t believe the things that the Congressmen does. Well, I call bullshit. I know and have worked with plenty of Catholic conservatives that believe exactly what he does. At my last job, the guy I worked with said that it was his aim to work towards forcing everybody in America to go to (Catholic) Church.
Burns can believe what he wants. I think he is a deluded, condescending twit.
Sherparick
@WereBear: The phrase is “More Catholic then the Pope.” I love that in a few short paragraphs he demonstrates what a total ass the man is. Also, to steel a phrase used in another context about another person’s memoirs, every statement in this is a “lie, to the include the “the” and the “ands.”
Elizabelle
@Germy Shoemangler: Thank you.
I actually think JP2 and Ratzinger were disasters for the Catholic Church, at least in the U.S.. Conservatives succeeding too mightily, and driving those who weren’t out of the Church. (The “cafeteria Catholics.”)
They canonized JP2 really damn quick. Purely a PR move; I’d guess to make conservatives happy and innoculate him in event trail of [knowledge of and inaction on] priestly sexual abuse ever drifts closer to his watch. “What? You realize we are talking about a saint.”
Sherparick
@boatboy_srq: @WereBear: The phrase is “More Catholic then the Pope.” I love that in a few short paragraphs he demonstrates what a total ass the man is. Also, to steel a phrase used in another context about another person’s memoirs, every statement in this is a “lie, to the include the “the” and the “ands.”
WereBear
@schrodinger’s cat: it wasn’t me, though I recall it was a contour pillow.
Germy Shoemangler
@WereBear: Off topic, but I’m curious what you think about this
Is this abuse? I wonder how they feel about traveling for hours in cages, and then being made to perform. I honestly don’t know enough about the subject. It sounds like they’re cared for.
scav
Truly we live in a blessed age, with so many ‘mercans having a direct line to the very mind of god and bypassing all other authorities, tradition, gospels or opinions of all the other prophets directly channelling god while wandering the malls.
Sherparick
@Elizabelle: I guess I would ask him if a U.S. bomb kills pregnant Muslim women, is that considered abortion of innocent human life, or does he consider the elimination of another infidel, and hence not so sacred. It really sounds like he hoped that Pope Frankie had come to do an Urban II and preach Crusade. It also interesting how a “Constitutionalist” like Gosar finds provisions in the actual Constitution like “no religious test for public office,” no establishment of religion, and birth right citizenship so objectionable.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: @schrodinger’s cat: WereBear’s clue was enough for me to use the google and find the thread:
BJ Thread
Pillow efgoldman linked to
WaterGirl
@schrodinger’s cat: FYWP won’t let me edit my comment – too many links. And it’s in moderation! grrr
Here’s the link to efgoldman talking about the pillow.
https://balloon-juice.com/2015/09/09/asshole-dog/#comment-5472276
NonyNony
@Sherparick:
He was probably prepared for the Pope to talk about poverty, and had steeled himself to take those hits with the kind of barriers that conservative Catholics build up for the usual social justice teachings (i.e. convince themselves that their preferred solutions are actually the way to help the poor and so they’re really doing the good Catholic thing). But the idea that climate change could be a moral issue probably came out of left field for him. If he’s like my family members he’s spent so long denying that climate change is even happening that when the Pope says “it’s happening and it’s a moral issue that all Catholics need to work to address” he can’t even process it.
Chris
@NonyNony:
As someone with the same background, I hear you completely. It has been a DELIGHT watching all those Republican-first-Catholic-second charlatans squirm and try desperately to rationalize their worldview.
burnspbesq
@A Ghost To Most:
And I don’t care, even a little bit, about anything you think or say. So you can either continue to waste your time, or stop wasting it. Your call.
schrodinger's cat
@WaterGirl: Thanks!
boatboy_srq
@Gex: Same thing for them in politics: a Teahadi pResident is to be respected and obeyed (or else you’re “with Teh Turrrrists”) but a Dem is to be challenged/thwarted/impeached because Reasosns.
Uncle Cosmo
@Paul in KY: I always thought of him as Papa Ratzi (cue Lady Gaga earworm) or Ratzo Rizzo.
BTW, FYI, FWIW, a few weeks back I met out-of-town friends in downtown Baltimore to tour the Basilica of the Assumption (“America’s First Cathedral”) recently restored to architect Benjamin Latrobe’s original constructed 1806-21.
As it happens there is a gift shop in the building immediately to the left of the basilica entrance, & in that shop I found–wait for it–
Every RC auto in the USA needs one on its back shelf to nod blessings at tailgaters. Not that I would–being RFC (Recovering From Catholicism) for something over 50 years myself–but I would have copped one for a friend at half the list price ($20)…
WereBear
@Germy Shoemangler: Alpha cat types would love being the center of attention and getting applause. Even now, there are Temple Cats in Asia who are lively clowns for temple visitors, and are in turn supported by the temple with food and love.
And it sounds like part of the duties of the assistant is to keep them happy.
Thing is, unlike dogs and seals and horses and elephants, who are often trapped by their herd instincts, we CANNOT make cats do things against their will. So if they are performing, they are, by definition, enjoying it.
But thanks! This will make an excellent post for the future.
A Ghost To Most
@burnspbesq:
Fuck you, dookie. You started it.
boatboy_srq
@NonyNony: AGCC flies directly in the face of the conspicuous consumption necessary to the Prosperity Gospel. If you can’t prove you’re Saved™ through all the things you buy, then you can’t be Saved™. Francis is calling out not only the climate deniers but the Joel Osteens and their followers. It’s no wonder Gosar’s p!ssed.
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear: In other cat related news. I tried to put bosscat in a sling like the adorable Syrian kitteh and I got scratched in 3 places for my trouble.
Chris
@NonyNony:
What’s fucking ridiculous is that Francis didn’t invent this – JP2 and Benny were equally clear that climate change was an issue and had to be addressed. They just didn’t stress it to the extent that Francis is now or quite as blatantly, so American right wingers could pretend they didn’t hear him.
WereBear
@schrodinger’s cat: Well, to be fair, you were not fleeing the country.
boatboy_srq
@Uncle Cosmo: “America’s first cathedral”? Really? U.S. Catholics can’t seem to get their own history right…
That said, though, the bobbleheads are a hoot.
qwerty42
@Hal: … See folks? Nothing to worry about.
I’d quote Ben Franklin of “Poor Richard’s Almanac”
“The Lord helps those who help themselves”, but I’d have to go over to that sewer to make the comment and the poor, gullible fools could never accept something from Ben when the RWNM is cranking things up to hysteria.
Matt McIrvin
@Chris: Most of the differences between Francis and his predecessors are like that. For a long time now the Catholic Church has been radically antiwar, supportive of economic justice, pro-environmentalist, and extremely conservative about anything to do with sex and gender. It’s just a question of which positions the Pope emphasizes and which ones he plays down.
Matt McIrvin
@WereBear: “Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.” –Mark Twain
Waldo
I’m sure Bill Donohue will waste no time in smacking down this heretic.
shell
Cause the weather changes every day, that PROVES Climate Change is bogus. Zing!
Is Santorum planning to boycott too? He claims to be a devout Catholic untill the Pope started talking like a damn hippie! Why cant he stick to abortion and covering up child abuse?
And sorry to diss a fellow artist, but why should we give a shit what Maureen Mullarkey says?
schrodinger's cat
@WereBear: You would think I was, if you heard him when I am trying to put him in his carrier for the trip to the vet.
WereBear
@Matt McIrvin: Awesome. Great for the post. Thank you!
I understand Mark Twain was a yoouuuuuge cat fan.
A guy
Stupid pope. And I’m catholic.
fordpowers
The best part of this is that on his FB page right below his hissy fit about the pope talking about climate change – is a post about the flash flooding that killed people in AZ a couple days ago.
For real.
SMH
Another Holocene Human
@SatanicPanic: Popes are considered infallible when speaking “ex cathedra” or “from the Bishop’s throne”. This is the issue that caused a bunch of Austrian dioceses to schism from the RCC in the 19th cent. They’re called the Old Catholic Church and their US branch is very liberal.
Another Holocene Human
@Elizabelle: I never could stand JP2, all the more so because everyone loved him so much.
JP2’s aim was to grow the church. He was very, very good at that. Personally, I have no use for him.
John XXIII was my favorite, at least until Francis I showed up. :)
trollhattan
@Jay C:
As does Jerry Brown, who so wonderfully called out Dr. [cough] Carson on his climate idiocy. I’ll bet he can afford another thumb drive for Herr Congressman Gosar.
Another Holocene Human
@boatboy_srq: Pretty sure “America” can mean the United States of America and not “The Americas”, especially when Americans, er, Estadounidienses, are talking.
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: I just get a chuckle out of Catholics in Maryland conveniently forgetting about the prior Spanish and Portugese colonial pushes that preceded them.
Another Holocene Human
@Matt McIrvin: That’s just not true about radically antiwar. The Catholic Church has a “just war” doctrine and this was still taught as God’s Own Truth when I was in CCD during JP2’s tenure. In fact, JP2 is quite unpopular in the Americas amongst a certain set because he would pick and choose which popular resistance movement was Godly (cough Polish people cough) and which was unGodly (any revolt in the Americas). That he himself was a proud Polish national was just one of those amazing coincidences.
Plenty of RW Catholics ran themselves in rhetorical knots in the runup to the Iraq war II Electric Boogaloo attempting to argue that a war of choice was a “just war”.
Another Holocene Human
The Catholic Church does have a history of trying to convince warlords to lay down arms (not terribly successfully, but still). This was just self-preservation. When the Franks overran Europe, they didn’t spare Rome one bit. Rome was devastated by Frankish conquest and rule. The Franks were illiterate and proud of the fact, and couldn’t set up a stable government for love or money (that would have to wait for the Hapsburg dynasty). Brother would literally set against brother over some soggy bit of European property or other. The Pope loved the fuck out of Charlemagne (and he loved the Pope back) because there was peace and stability.
SFAW
@trollhattan:
Apparently Carson is not a “climate denier,” but rather a “climate questioner.”
Fucking candy-ass moron.
“I was not under that apple tree with Sir Isaac Newton, and I’m not a physicist, and there’s ‘this guy’ somewhere who denies that gravity exists (he says that, rather, ‘The Earth sucks’). And I have never SEEN gravity! So I’m a gravity questioner, but not a gravity denier. But maybe if I see some incontrovertible evidence, satisfying some ridiculous set of criteria I conjured up in my ‘brain,’ I could change my mind.”
If Jesus really does come back, as these evil, stupid motherfuckers keep hoping for, it ain’t the Jews and other non-believers he’s going to wipe out — it’s the morons who have perverted his teachings into something which could (extremely) charitably be called “an abomination. “
boatboy_srq
@SFAW:
… then the morons who have perverted His teachings will immediately denounce him as Just Another Liebrul Commie Soshulist Community Organizer.
Another Holocene Human
@boatboy_srq: I don’t take them too seriously.
I would put this church in contention for most beautiful in North America.
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: Just ordered 2. Thanks!
Another Holocene Human
@Waldo:
I’d sooner await that kind of thing from Phil Donahue.
Paul in KY
@Uncle Cosmo: Would like a Pope Frankie bobblehead!
Ratzinger sorta looked like actor who played Palpatine. Like he was 1/2 way thru the metamorphose into Darth Sidious.
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: Nice. Beats heck out of St. Mary Maytag…
boatboy_srq
@Paul in KY: FOR SHAME! Comparing Ratzinger to Ian McDiarmid.
Another Holocene Human
@boatboy_srq: I … wut.
There was a church near my grandparents’ house that looked just like a toaster, but some people who hate comedy tore it down just a few years ago.
Those spaceship has landed churches were popular after Vatican II. Always hated worshiping in one of those. Felt pinned in no matter how large it was. Also has this panopticon feel no matter how illusory. Look, I thought that half the congregation worrying about what you wore to church was a custom best left to the Southern Baptists. I’d like to get my pray on without feeling like I’m being judged. Which is to say that Gothic pop top ceiling is a good thing.
Another Holocene Human
@Paul in KY: I cosign both of those statements. Have to think about that $20 price tag, though.
Somebody photoshopped force lightning into a pic of Benedict once.
Paul in KY
@boatboy_srq: The character he was made up to be.
Paul in KY
@Another Holocene Human: Steep price for a bobblehead, IMO. They probably have 3 containers of them from China.
Uncle Cosmo
@boatboy_srq, @Another Holocene Human: From the Wiki article:
It is sometimes considered the first architecturally significant edifice constructed in the USA.
I’ll give you Montreal for Gothic bombast, but the Basilica has a clean-lined charm all its own, particularly after the stained-glass windows (installed in the 1940s IIRC) were removed & replaced with clear glass in line with Latrobe’s intention to let in as much natural light as possible.
Another Holocene Human
“Blessed are You, O Lord, Who hears the cries of the poor”.
Is Gosar texting during church when they sing this?
Republican Catholics kill me.
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: St. Mary Maytag (not its real name, of course) is architecturally interesting on the inside… but outside it’s just the world’s biggest washing machine agitator.
Uncle Cosmo
Long comment “in moderation”–WTF for?? FYWP!!!!
Another Holocene Human
So in my town I guess there’s a rivalry between two different private Catholic high schools so the parents put not one but frequently TWO bumperstickers side by side for their school of choice, and it’s not “my child is an honor student at” but “A Blue Ribbon School” (with Presidential seal).
Sometimes these folks have anti-abortion stickers or plates as well.
Not once have I seen a sticker for Catholic Charities, St Francis House (homeless shelter), or Society of St Vincent de Paul or Food Not Bombs or Catholic Workers or anything of the sort.
You know if I still cared to go to church I’d go see the Episcopalians because at least they’re not fucking hypocrites. They provide direct services to the homeless every week and some years they’ve even opened up their sanctuary as an overnight winter shelter. Now that’s church.
Elizabelle
@boatboy_srq: That’s appalling. Did they mean it to look like the Flying Nun’s hat?
boatboy_srq
@Elizabelle: It looks even worse seen from above. Check Google Maps’ satellite view and you’ll see why they call it Our Lady of the Laundromat.
trollhattan
@SFAW:
PREACH!
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: There are some lovely modern and postmodern architectural samples out there. Most modernist/postmodernist churches are sadly not in that company.
boatboy_srq
@Elizabelle: @boatboy_srq: OTOH, it is better than Minas Mormon…
Elizabelle
@boatboy_srq: I kinda like the Mormon Temple. It looks like fairyland, when you suddenly come upon it. Very pretty in some kinds of light. Would imagine it’s responsible for a few accidents, though. It can startle motorists.
Elizabelle
Looks kinda like an Oz set, don’t it?
boatboy_srq
@Elizabelle: @Elizabelle: I’ve mostly seen it after dark, and every time I see it my brain superimposes this instead.
Elizabelle
.@boatboy_srq:
That Mary Maytag is really something. And first I’ve ever heard of it, and have been to San Francisco a few times. Church seems not to be something locals or tourist guides point out. Maybe cuz it’s hideous.
It’s way close to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Got that going for it.
It looks bulletproof, and maybe quakeproof, but very ugly. Looks better from the overhead view, as you suggested. Some nice stonework/brickwork around the grounds…
Elizabelle
@boatboy_srq: Like that. Eerie. What’s that from?
Elizabelle
Also, I really like the old Forest Glen (?) buildings. The pagoda and all. Have you seen them? Not too far from the Mormon Temple.
boatboy_srq
@Elizabelle: [cough] That’s Minas Morgul. From the Peter Jackson LOTR.
Matt McIrvin
@Elizabelle: There’s a bridge near there, which you see juxtaposed in front of the temple when you’re on the highway, on which somebody kept painting SURRENDER DOROTHY for years.
boatboy_srq
@Germy Shoemangler:
Not likely to succeed. Francis 1 != John Paul 1. Fairly predictable, though…
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Another Holocene Human:
JPII was very against the Iraq War, which I think was the original point. That was when I realized that the conservatives who sneered that I was a “cafeteria Catholic” were full of shit, because they were just as likely to pick and choose what to follow and what to ignore. Now I just point and laugh at their shameless hypocrisy.
boatboy_srq
@Uncle Cosmo: Not disputing either the grandeur of the structure or the “first in the US” status (the basilica is lovely, though IYAM Latrobe owes a little to Christopher Wren here); just chuckling at how insular US Catholics are – and how easily/quickly/conveniently they forget the Spanish Conquest and the centuries of Spanish colonial hegemony in the New World (it’s as if Maryland was the first place Catholics set foot, completely forgetting Columbus, Cabral, Cortez, Pizarro, DeSoto and the rest).
greenergood
@Elizabelle: D.D.S. – Doctorate in Denial Studies
Elizabelle
@Matt McIrvin: Have seen it. Hilarious.
@greenergood: Yes!
SFAW
@boatboy_srq:
To which he will reply, in his best Bobby DeNiro impression: “Fuck me? No, FUCK YOU!”
And proceed to wipe them out the way the Left Behind morons fantasize Jeebus will wipe out the non-Talibangelical scum
Now THAT is a Son’O’God I could get behind!
SFAW
@trollhattan:
Which is interesting, considering I’m an atheist.
But I’m OK with that.
boatboy_srq
@SFAW: and, y’see that’s what I fully expect. Revelations reads less like the Judgment of Bass and more like Ground Zero at a nuclear blast.
Uncle Cosmo
@SFAW:
Tipped & rec’d for the National Lampoon reference. I loved that short-lived series…
–uh, sorry, I see T&R’s don’t exist in the Luftballonsaft multiverse. Well, sheeyit, have an attaboy instead.
El Caganer
@Jay C: Not just a Jesuit education – he’s a real-deal Jesuit.
El Caganer
@Hal: If God’s going to remove all “real Christians,” could he speed it up a bit, please?
Barry
@burnspbesq: “Fuck him, the horse he rode in on, the farrier who shod the horse, and the farmer who grew the oats that the horse eats.
Ass. His kind of “Catholic” is the last thing the Church needs.”
The mitre is truly on the other head now, so to speak. I think that for the duration of Francis’ term (?), the phrase ‘Cafeteria Catholic’ will be exemplified on the right.